


where the love light gleams

by Dresupi



Category: Captain America (Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Author Darcy Lewis, Awesome Darcy Lewis, Break Up, Cunnilingus, Darcy Lewis is the fandom bicycle and I love it, F/M, Farm boy Bucky, Floor Sex, Fluff, Former High School Sweethearts, Happy Ending, Holidays, Oral Sex, POV Bucky Barnes, POV Darcy Lewis, POV Multiple, Post-Break Up, Reunited and It Feels So Good, SHIP DARCY LEWIS WITH ALL THE THINGS, Second Chance Romance, Second Chances, Smut, Time Skips, Woman on Top
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-10
Updated: 2017-12-10
Packaged: 2019-02-13 01:43:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,252
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12972966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi
Summary: It's been five years and Darcy's not even sure why she's headed out into the dark, cold night.  Because there's no way Bucky's out there waiting for her.  Not after all this time.A holiday-themed second chance romance.





	where the love light gleams

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amidtheflowers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amidtheflowers/gifts).



> December 10 - ['I'll Be Home For Christmas' by Front Porch Step](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkUsb_aI1bw).
> 
> Special thanks to thestanceyg for betaing this monster and to leftennant for reading it over!

**Present**

**December 24, 1:00 am**

Darcy turned the key in the ignition, her car turning over and coming to life.  She’d call it a roar, but she doubted a 2010 Corolla could roar if its life depended on it.  She looked up into the night sky, the darkness dotted with stars.  Stars so bright that even Clint’s crazy holiday decorations couldn’t compete. 

She had nearly chickened out of leaving four separate times, but in the end even the warmth of the guest room bed hadn’t won out.  

She wasn’t surprised.  If  _ reason _ hadn’t won out, warmth didn’t stand a chance. 

She almost hadn’t even made the drive up from the city the day before, thinking of different diseases to feign so she wouldn’t even have to  _ go _ to her sister’s for the holidays. Laura must have known something was up, because of how many times Darcy called to almost cancel.  But if she did notice, she didn’t let on.  Laura Lewis-Barton knew how to pick her battles.  

Laura also knew how Darcy had looked that night exactly five years before when she burst through the back door at one in the morning with tears running down her cheeks, and she knew how Darcy had looked each subsequent year that she came back to the farm to celebrate the holidays.   _ And _ she recognized the look when her younger sister had shown up the morning of December twenty-third with a duffel bag full of clothes and two weeks of free time.

Darcy couldn’t come to the farm and spend any time there without thinking about Bucky Barnes.  And their promise that they made to each other back when they were still practically kids.  

Five long years with him in the back of her mind.  With him coming between her and every other person with whom she attempted a romance. With him hijacking the male protagonist of the novel she had written and subsequently gotten published.

With Bucky Barnes in her mind and in her dreams, there was room for little else.  

Jesus, he’d been a high school sweetheart, were those supposed to carry this much weight? Take up this much space in her heart?

Did she take up this much space in  _ his _ heart?

She tried to tell herself that she didn’t.  Because if he was as hung up on her as she was on him?  Nah.  She wouldn’t wish this on anyone.  And if he wasn’t?  That, she could get over.  Five years too late, but she would.

Because there wasn’t any way Bucky would still be waiting for her after all these years.

No way…

* * *

 

**Five years earlier...**

**December 24, 1:15 am**

“This isn’t working is it?” she asked, hearing the words and knowing it was her voice that had spoken them, but that didn’t mean she recognized any of it.  

Bucky cleared his throat and shook his head.  “No, it ain’t.”  

She didn’t know why, but she’d been hoping he’d disagree. Darcy exhaled sharply, expecting the tears and wishing they weren’t there at the same damn time. 

She’d really thought they could make it work… at least at first.  Bucky had too, though.  They’d been naive.  High school was one thing.  They could make their relationship work when the roles were simpler.  She was the brain.  He was the jock. It was cute that they were together, but opposites attract, right? 

But with her attending college four hours away and him staying here in their old hometown… learning the tricks of farming from her brother-in-law,  yeah.  It was a lot harder than they realized it would be.  

It wasn’t going to work.  She could see that now.  

“I love you,” she whispered, reaching for his hand.  He gripped it hard, pulling it up to his lips.  

“Love you too, doll.  But it ain’t working.  You ain’t happy and neither am I.”  

The lump in her throat was becoming ridiculously large.  And the windows in his pickup truck were fogging up.  Not in the way that she’d been expecting when she gleefully joined him out here past her curfew, but apparently fate had more in store for them than freezing cold humping in the driver’s seat of his pickup.  

He continued, his voice sounding a lot thicker than she’d ever heard it before, “I miss you too much.  I live my entire life waiting for you to call me… and you?  You’re spending all your cash on minutes for your phone and all your time sitting in your dorm callin’ me…”  He shook his head.  “It ain’t fair.  For either of us.”  

“You sure this doesn’t have  _ anything _ to do with me not wanting to live here after I graduate?” she asked slowly, trying not to sound petty and failing miserably.  “Because it sure as hell seems like it.  Seems like everything goes peachy until I bring up my plans for after college, and then you clam up and there’s awkward silence.”

He’d bought land.  Here.  In this teeny tiny town.  Land. And he was talking about building a house.  A house for who?  He knew what she wanted to do and how much she loved the city.  Middle of Nowhere, USA wasn’t going to cut it anymore.  It was almost like… almost like he’d given up on them  _ long _ before she’d the thought had even crossed her mind and that  _ hurt _ .   

He pressed his lips together and shook his head.  “Doll, I don’t want to fight with you.”  

“Then don’t,” she huffed, reaching for the handle on the door.  They were a few miles from the farm, but if she walked up to the road, she’d get back before the cows had to be milked. Before the kids got up to open their presents.   

“You ain’t walkin’ home, Darcy… it’s too damn cold.  I’ll drive you.” Bucky said.  He didn’t reach for her.  Didn’t clutch at her.  It was something she both loved and hated about him.  He’d never keep her anywhere she didn’t want to be, but he wouldn’t fight for her either.  He was too damn stubborn and worried about stepping on her toes.   Whether it was indifference or respect… she needed a straight answer from him once in awhile.  

But it  _ was _ fucking cold outside and he was right. She wasn’t about to walk home..  They were parked outside of Bullseye's drive in, and it was closed.  The parking lot was empty. She wasn’t about to find a ride home with anyone else either.  

She grumbled under her breath and reached for her seat belt.  “Then  _ take _ me home, Buck.”  

The drive back to the farm was silent.  And the twinkle lights Clint had put up on the roof were the brightest thing for quite a ways, showing up first as a tiny dot of light as they drove down the road towards the farm.  

She bit her tongue all the way there, because he was right about a couple of things. She wasn’t walking home, and this  _ didn’t _ warrant an argument.  This was just…  _ over  _ and they both needed to accept it.  

He pulled up in the driveway and she reached for the handle of the door, about to hop out of his truck and out of his life forever.  

But suddenly his hand was on hers and he was tugging her back.  Pulling her back for once.  And his lips were on hers and they were hot.  Hot and insistent and making her  _ feel _ all kinds of feelings as she returned the kiss with fervor. 

She wasn’t confused, she knew what it was.  A kiss goodbye. That heat was a side effect.  They always had a lot of it.  

He let her choose when to end it, pulling back and wiping his mouth as he stared at the glowing angel in the Nativity scene on the front lawn.  “I don’t want this to end, Darcy.  But it feels like it’s over for now.”  

The pain in her chest blossomed out to a scorching heat that burned her down to her toes.  She nodded.  “I know what you mean.”  

He turned then, reaching for her hand once more and squeezing.  “Not for good though… look.  Let’s take a break from this for a while.  A few years even?  If you’re still interested, if you wanna try it again, let’s meet up in five years.  If not, we won’t.  Sound good?”  

The lump in her throat was still there, so she just nodded.  Because if she spoke, she was going to cry.  And beg.  And plead.  And/or do something stupid like drop out of college. Because hell to the no, what he was suggesting didn’t sound good. She wanted things to work  _ now _ .  But what else could she do? He was right.  It was over for now.  

So she simply nodded.  

“Is that a yes?” he asked, and she could see the tears glistening there in  _ his _ eyes as he gazed over at her earnestly.  The thickness in his voice made sense now.  

She’d never seen Bucky cry before.

She nodded.  “Yeah…” 

She slammed the door to his truck and ran up on the porch, tears streaming from her eyes as she burst through the back door.  

* * *

 

**Present**

**December 24, 12:30 am**

Bucky pulled on his coat, turning up the collar as he made his way out to his truck.  His heart was beating like crazy because while he didn’t let himself believe for a SECOND that he was gonna find Darcy Lewis parked out in front of where Bullseye’s used to be, there was still that tiny part of him that thought that maybe?   _ Maybe _ , she’d be there?  He let himself hope, even though hope was a scary and frightening thing in a desperate man.

He hadn’t just been sitting here admittedly gone on her for five years, either.  He’d done his fair share of denying.  

He’d dated other women.  A couple of the local girls, but it never turned into anything.  He’d gone to bed quite a few nights pretty much set in the knowledge that he was gonna leave Darcy Lewis behind him.  That asking her to come back in five years had been the worst thing he could have ever done.  

In his more bitter moments, he made up excuses. Like how she probably hadn’t given him a second thought since then.  Probably had some big shot boyfriend up in New York.  Someone that Clint and Laura were decent enough not to talk about around Bucky.  

But that was doubtful they’d bragged all over her when she’d graduated with honors from her college.  A shiny new English degree and quite a few of her short stories picked up by various publications.  Then she’d gotten that book deal... 

Clint and Laura weren’t the only ones who were damn proud of Darcy.  And he couldn’t see them keeping quiet if she was moving on with some bigshot.  It was all just his bitterness trying to keep him down in the mudpit and wallowing.

He had copies of every magazine that had ever printed one of her stories.  He had pre-ordered her book on Amazon and had it read within a week.  Once he’d gotten finished with it, he’d flipped it over and read it again.  

Because damn if that main character didn’t remind him of someone he knew.  

Someone he knew  _ very _ well.  

Maybe she  _ could _ still have feelings for him.  If she could write him into her book like that.  So prominently.  And he was kind of dense when it came to symbolism and such, but to him it looked like he came out smelling pretty sweet.  

He still couldn’t imagine she’d want to settle down here, though. No matter if she’d moved on or not.  If she’d forgiven him or not.  

Five years apart wouldn't have changed that at all.  Even if she  _ was _ back, even if she was waiting for him at Bullseye’s, they’d probably be back where they started, with cold silences every time she brought up her future plans.  She’d probably want some artsy-fartsy apartment in the city.  Something to stir her muse or whatever.  Wasn’t anything here worth stirring, according to her.

Bucky had thought about moving down there.  He’d even driven down to Manhattan one afternoon to look at apartments.  Goddamn, he hated that city.  Hated it for taking her away, and hated it more for being so fuck-all expensive.  

He wasn’t trained in anything, apart from farming and stuff.  And there was no farming down there.  He’d probably be lucky to get a tomato plant on the balcony.   _ If  _ he had a balcony.  

No.  There was just… no way that was gonna work.  He belonged upstate. He was a country mouse. 

And that’s what he repeated to himself as he drove out to Bullseye's.  

He got there a little early, parking the car in the first spot and turning up the heat.  It was cold as balls outside, and he didn’t even have optimism to keep him warm.  

* * *

 

Darcy was  _ still _ thinking of ways to chicken out all through the drive. 

Even if she was bound to run into him sometime.  Even if he wasn’t at Bullseye’s.  She wasn’t going to  _ not _ visit her sister.  Her niece and nephews.  Clint.  

She couldn’t hide from James Buchanan Barnes forever.  This was a step in the right direction.  

Her heart nearly leapt into her throat as she pulled into the lot at Bullseye's.  Apparently, she didn’t have to worry about him not being there.

Because there was his truck.  The lights on.  Engine running.  

A panicked thought entered her mind as she wondered if perhaps he  _ had _ forgotten and maybe he was just bringing some girl up here to make out.  And then she remembered that they were in their late twenties and likely didn’t have to bring people  _ out _ to make out anymore.  

She parked beside him, glancing over at his silhouette in the driver’s seat before she cut off her engine. Darcy opened the door and walked around her car, slipping her keys and phone and wallet in her pocket as he cut off his engine and did the same. 

The sight of it felt so familiar, she couldn’t believe he’d kept this hunk of junk running for all these years.  

He popped the keys into his pocket, jamming his hands in after as he approached her.  “You’re here,” he said, his words coming out so soft she almost didn’t hear them. 

Snow had started to fall, and it would have been a beautiful moment if her anxiety wasn’t threatening to blow the whole thing.  

“I am,” she answered, nodding once, mirroring his stance.

“I read your book,” he blurted, looking a little sheepish at the admission.

“You did?  What did you think?” she asked, feeling more than a little hopeful.  

“It was really good.  I enjoyed it.  Thought the main guy was a little brusk for my tastes…” he trailed off.  “But I mean, I guess I could see it.”  

She laughed, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.  “You know, my editor wanted me to tone him down, but I thought his bruskness was what made him loveable…”

“You never thought it was loveable on me,” he teased.  

“I did too.  I was just… too busy complaining about everything to tell you…” she trailed off, looking down at her shoes.    

“I didn’t think you’d show up, Darce…”  The raw emotion in his voice nearly did her in.  

“I didn’t think YOU would,” she replied.  

He took a couple of steps towards her, his hands coming out of his pockets as he reached for her.  He tugged hers from the warmth of her pockets and held them. “We gotta talk, you know.”  

“I know,” she said with a slight chuckle.  “Didn’t think we’d be doing anything else…”  

“I said that for my benefit.  Because… I wanna kiss you.  And if I kiss you, ain’t no talkin’ gonna get done, doll.”  

She glanced up at him, really  _ looking _ at him for the first time since he’d gotten here.  He had more of a beard now.  Or was it stubble?  He looked so much older.  His cheekbones were sharp and defined.  That babyface she’d fallen for was long gone.  And in its place there was this… man.    That was a man face looking back at her.

She didn’t want to talk.  She wanted to kiss him.  She wanted  _ more _ than kissing.    

“Bucky… all we ever did was talk before… maybe if we’d spent less time talking, we’d have been able to make it work…” 

“What’re you saying?” he asked, frowning a little.  

“I’m saying kiss me.  Right now.  Kiss me.  Because I’ve done nothing but moon after you for five years and I want you to kiss me.  Want it more than anything else… .  We both showed up.  We’ve got a long time to figure out what that means.  But right now that you’re here…”  

He tugged on her hands, one of his wrapping around her waist and the other slid into her hair, pulling her closer as his lips met hers.  Warm and dry, his breath fogging around the two of them.  It was perfect.  Everything she’d been waiting for.  His lips felt both firm and soft.  He tasted like coffee.  He tasted like  _ Bucky _ .  

Tears pricked at her eyelids and she clung to him, her hands cupping his face.  

“It’s cold as fuck out here, Darce…” he murmured, nuzzling her nose.  

“I’m staying at my sister’s…” she whispered apologetically. 

He tilted his head.  “I got a place…”  

He had  _ land _ , from what she remembered.  But it made sense that he’d have built on it by now.

“Take me there, Bucky.”  

* * *

 

He looked almost embarrassed as he led her inside.  She didn’t know why, it was a gorgeous home.  Too big for just him, but it was gorgeous all the same.  

He shrugged, a small grin gracing that beautiful face as she complimented him.  “This is awesome, Bucky…”

“It ain’t much, but it’s home…”  

“I think your kitchen is bigger than my entire apartment …” she said with a sharp laugh.  

He didn’t say anything, just moved infinitely closer until she sank against his body. He nuzzled against her throat.  “Darcy…”  

His lips met hers in a flurry of need, of firm, strong, goddamn  _ manly _ need.

She opened her mouth slightly, letting her tongue slide out and glide along his bottom lip.

“Do I get a full tour?” she asked, pulling back to slide her hands beneath his coat, which was quickly shed from his shoulders and onto the floor.

“If that’s what you want…” he replied.  

“I want  _ you _ … but maybe we could do the tour at the same time…?” She reached for the zipper of her hoodie and undid it, letting it slide off her shoulders and onto the kitchen floor with his.

He took her hand and led her from the kitchen through a doorway and into the living room.  Their shoes and socks stayed there.  

Shirts, remained in the dining room.  She also got a hickey from laying back on the dining room table. Bucky’s hands held her hips in place as he ground against her, his lips forming an ‘o’ and sucking hard against her neck.  

Their pants were shed in the master bedroom and she was surprised when he pulled her out of that room and into the hallway again.  She reached forward to squeeze his ass in his underwear and that got her pressed against a closed door.  

His lips pulled and plucked at hers before he wrapped an arm around her bare waist and opened the door.  

The room was bare.  Empty.  Obviously a second bedroom.  

He led her inside, stepping back and flipping a light switch to flood the room with light.  

“Spare room?” she asked, looking around.  There was a vaulted ceiling, similar to the master bedroom, but there was also a rather large window along one wall.  Probably had a helluva view, if she remembered his property.  “Make a great nursery, huh?”  

She didn’t know why she said it.  Maybe she was out to sabotage everything.  

He shrugged, smirking slightly.  “Could be.  Haven’t really decided on that yet… kinda need two willing people plus a smaller third to have use for a nursery… but I was thinking… it might make a great office.”  

“Office, huh?” she asked, looking around.  “You don’t strike me as the type who’d need an office, Buck.”  

“Nah.  I don’t.  But… I mean… “ He paused, blushing a little.  “Thought I could make a desk to put in that window, and then maybe it’d be an inspiring place for someone who had need of inspiration to… ya know… find it?”  

Warmth bloomed out from her chest and down her arms and legs.  “ _ Someone _ , huh? Someone who needs inspiration…”  

“And I mean, if someone needed to keep a place in the city for other inspiration, well… that’d be okay too.”

“Thought we weren’t gonna talk about this yet, Bucky…” she said, reaching for his hand.

“I love you, Darcy… and I wasn’t… last time we talked about this, I was being an ass…” he hung his head a little.  “And I know this ain’t the time, and I  _ know _ I’m interrupting our reunion sex, and I  _ know _ we’re both in our underwear, but… goddammit, Darcy.  I gotta say it…  I want you to be happy.  And I wanna help with that if I can.  I know you said you hated it here.  But I thought, if it was a compromise, maybe?”

“I don’t hate it here, Bucky. I was being an ass too. I thought you were trying to push me away…”

“Doll, I’d never push you away…” He pulled her closer as if to illustrate his meaning.  And all that did was remind them both that they were practically naked.  

“We were so bad at talking… “  she murmured, her hands roving over his bare chest.  

“We gotta get better at that…” he said, his lips grazing hers as he spoke.  

“I am having so many feelings right now… how’s that for talking?” 

“Tell me about them,” he whispered.  “I want to know about them… which one’s the loudest?”  

“I feel like I wanna fuck you on the floor of my new office…” 

He choked on a laugh.  “Darce…”  

“We have to be on the floor for that, I think…”  

“Darcy…”  

“I love you, Bucky.”  

“I love  _ you _ …”  the last word came out on a moan as she brushed her hand over the front of his boxers.  

They both kneeled down on the floor, with Bucky ending up on his back and pushing down his underwear at the same time.  

Darcy’s panties disappeared next and she was straddling him on the floor in no time.  

She rocked her hips over his, her slick skin sliding on his, stiff and hot.  The tip of his cock rubbed over her clit and she whimpered, her thighs clenching with every sweep.  His eyelids fluttered closed and soon, he was biting his lip to keep back the groans.  His hands tightened on her thighs.  

“You’re so wet…” he muttered.  “Fuck me, doll… you’re so perfect...”  

“I will fuck you,” she teased.  “Just gonna get you worked up first…”  

“I’ve  _ been _ worked up… since we came in the front door.  Darcy, do you know how much I’ve missed you?”  

“If it’s even half as much as I’ve missed you,” she began, but didn’t finish.  sighing instead as his hands tightened on her thighs, using the leverage to thrust up against her.  Her thighs shook as she widened them, reaching down to line him up with her entrance.  

“Fuck.  Condom.  In my pants…” 

She reached for the pants, feeling around until she found his wallet.  And inside that, a condom.  A foil square of hallelujah.  Because oh god, she didn’t want to stop.  

She rolled it down his length and immediately sank down after it.  

She winced at the stretch and he grunted loudly.  She’d say he was in pain, but she remembered how he sounded when she had him on the edge.  Some things hadn’t changed a bit, and Bucky’s sex face and noises were some of those things.  He was always very vocal.  

So vocal, it almost got them caught sometimes.  

But there was no one to catch them now.  No one in this house but them.  

They could rattle the windows and it wouldn’t matter.  

“Fuck…” he groaned as her hips met his.  His hands smoothed up her front to cup her breasts in her bra, thumbs flicking rapidly over her nipples.  “Fuck, you feel so fucking  _ good _ , Darce…”  

“Likewise…” she murmured, rocking her hips forward and forcing moans out of both of them.  

Her knees rubbed against the carpeted floor and their voices echoed on the walls.  

It didn’t take him long to finish.  A loud gasp and a whispered apology as his release shook through him.  “Sorry… Darcy, oh fuck doll…”  

“S’okay… we’ve got all night…” she murmured.  

“Damn straight…” he teased, rolling her gently to her back and pulling out to scoot down between her legs.  “We’ve got all night and every room of this house to break in…”  He ran his tongue over her swollen clit before sucking it between his lips.  

Her hand immediately went down to tangle in his hair. “You’re gonna wear me out before I even officially move in…”  

“That’s the plan... “ he said with a wink.  “Happy Holidays, Darcy…” 

“Happy Holidays, Bucky.”  

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me some holiday-spiced sugar in the comments, y'all. <3 <3 <3


End file.
